05/01/2020

BERLIN WALL SECTION

Published by the

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

Ref: PP01929

I have seen several sections of the Berlin Wall, large sections still in place in Berlin of course, but there is also a slab on display by the Hard Rock Café in Orlando (outside the Universal Studios theme park). This one depicted here can be seen outside the entrance of the Imperial War Museum in London. I have seen this a few times myself as this is one of my favourite museums in London, or at least it was before their major revamp (which I think took away some of my favourite WW2 displays). Anyway, this is quite an interesting slab with a nice piece of graffiti on it.

PHOTOGRAPH

13^TH August 2019

This is my personal photograph of the same piece of the Berlin Wall, in place outside the Imperial War Museum.

05/01/2020

UNTITLED

BLACK SWAN

Design by

PAUL FUENTES

Published by

LAGOM DESIGN

Ref: 3145

This one can still be found in branches of ‘paperchase’. I like bird image’s, and this is another cracker.

04/01/2020

VOULEZ-VOUS ETRE MA

MARRAINE

‘Do you want to be my

Godmother’

Copyright

MARCEL VAYSSE,

Editeur – BAZEMONT (S.-&-O.)

GROUPEMENT DES HUMORISTES DE PRESSE

Printed in France

There has been a fair bit discussion over the last five odd years over the rights and wrongs of breast feeding in public, but it seems that postcards approached this quite natural activity some time back! I think this cartoon is from either just before or just after WWII, but personally I think just after and maybe into the 1950’s. This cartoon does rather over-sexulise the natural act of breast feeding, but despite my normal rules of all nudity being placed in my censored section, I am making the decision to stand behind what is a natural act and am placing this card here on the main page.

04/01/2020

THE ‘ROSE’ IS RED

THE ‘VIOLET’ BLUE

THE ‘GHERKIN’ IS GREEN

AND SO ARE YOU

Copyrighted by

W. S. HEAL

Novelty ‘Cloth’ Postcard

Unknown Publisher

This design is printed on a piece of material, much like very thick cloth, almost sacking type material. I came across this unusual postcard on a stall at the antiques fair at Mount Dora, which I have previously mentioned. I really liked it, but it was not priced and I always worry when this is the case as I fear that asking for the price is showing your interest in the card, and although I can and do barter, I prefer to have an idea of what the dealer has in mind before I approach doing this. But I fancied this card, so I did ask. To my amazement the dealer looked at it and said ‘fifty cents’. Well, no one would argue with that price as it was an absolute bargain.

I have not bothered to crop this to size as I like the fact that you can see the rough edges of this piece of material

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

If I am going to be ‘absolutely’ honest with you, it was this side when I first saw it that made me want this card. The company producing this postcard have not bothered to clean, whiten or remove the material markings from this side of the card. So, you still have the original blue printed letters across it. It is these letters which make me think that the material here is from some sort of sacking cloth or similar, just cut into postcard pieces. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly the stamp has come off, but then I doubt it would have been able to adhere to this cloth for any lengthy period-of-time. I also can not quite make out the full details of the cancellation, but I can say with a degree of certainty that the style of the cancel is American, so this was posted in the US (the fact that I bought this in the US also backs up my premise, but that cancel would have sealed the deal for me with which country this came from).  

04/01/2020

KEYSTONE COMEDY

HIS NEW PROFESSION

Affiche: HIS NEW PROFESSION

(Amerikaanse film uit 1914)

Regie: Charlie Chaplin

Collectie: Nederlands Filmmuseum

Published by

BOOMERANG FREECARDS, POSTBUS 763, 1000 AT AMSTERDAM

Ref; P04-98

Before coming across this Dutch free rack postcard, I had never seen this old film poster before. This is the joy of these rack postcards as they often used artwork, designs, logos, film stills and other images which did not appear on any other cards, before or since. The 1990’s were the pinnacle of the free rack card craze, a type which I think will be greatly collected by future postcard and history collectors as cards from certain themes and types are hunted down. Film has always been a popular ‘Free Rack Card’ theme and throughout the 1990’s (and the late 1980’s before this) many of the blockbuster and indie feature films were promoted through these rack cards.

The film that this poster promoted is the 1914 (31^st August) black and white Charlie Chaplin short film (16 mins long) where Charlie takes responsibility for the care of a wheelchair-bound man (played by Jess Dandy. Also, in the film is Roscoe Arbuckle, better known as ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, who plays a bartender). Needless-to-say, everything goes wrong with Chaplin’s normal excellent comedic style.

03/01/2020

Today I have created a new section of the webpage under a new tab titled:

“DUFEX” DISNEY CARDS

A number of these well known ‘shiny’ postcards have been placed here including the Bambi card depicted here.

03/01/2020

DELAND FLORIDA

PAPER POSTCARD

& PHOTO FAIR

2020

JANUARY 3^RD AND 4^TH

Official Advertising Postcard

A nice advertising postcard for an event being held in Florida today and tomorrow. I picked this free postcard up whilst I was in Florida myself (it was quite a productive postcard holiday outside of the Disney Parks).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

03/01/2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Unknown Publisher

Printed in Germany

I love unusual postcards, what we call novelty cards often for a very good reason. This one is made of components that open-up to reveal birthday wishes inside (see below). This is yet another postcard that I picked up whilst I was in Florida last year, although only a couple of months ago really.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

03/01/2020

SKUNK FAMILY

By

GENE KLEBE

Published by

CAPE SHORE PAPER. S. PORTLAND, MAINE

There are skunks in Florida, but I have never seen a wild one. Skunk an American Opossum are the two animals I now most want to see in the wild. Florida has two types of skunk, the Eastern spotted skunk and the Striped skunk, which is what is depicted on this card. My problem is that both the skunk and the opossum are nocturnal creatures and it is not easy as a tourist to just wander off into the wilds of Florida at night and Jo already thinks I’m mad and disappearing off into the darkness would just confirm her opinions!  

03/01/2020

PAINTING BY

F. DOUBEK

Publisher / Printer details:

FR. A. ACKERMANN, KUNSTVERLAG, MUNCHEN.-

KUNSTLERPOSTKARTE No. 492

A nice early glamourous female portrait design from a German based company. The artist is Frantisek Bohumil Doubek, a Czech painter and illustrator born in 1865, and who died in 1952

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This card was posted from Prague in 1899 when Prague was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Which is why the stamp used here is an Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) 2k definitive stamp of 1890 (SG 80) depicting Emperor Francis Joseph 1. A nice early usage.

03/01/2020

DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS

HOTELS & RESORTS

There are a number of hotels around the Disneyland Resort Paris theme parks, and certainly in the past, you could pick up postcards from each which depicted the hotel or resort area. I do not know if this is still the case, but if I get to go back, I will be checking.

DISNEYLAND HOTEL

DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS

The Disneyland Hotel, a Victorian palace from the turn-of-the-century

Official Disneyland Hotel Postcard

Ref: DL6500

This is the Disneyland Resort Paris’ posh hotel, the big one which everyone wants to be able to afford to stay at, including me as I have never stayed here. Jo’s aunt has spent a couple of nights here and calls it the ‘Pink Palace’ because of its colour, which you can not see on this postcard because it is shown lit up which hides its true colour.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

OFFICIAL DISNEYLAND HOTEL ENVELOPE

When I bought the above postcard on eBay it came with this rather nice official envelope, which I have kept with the postcard. It is something different and I like adding things to my collection with compliment postcards in it.

DISNEY’S HOTEL NEW YORK

DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS

Official Disney Hotel Postcard

This one has never really appealed to me, although it is the second closest to the theme parks (the Disneyland Hotel depicted above is the closest as it is over the entrance almost).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

HOTEL NEW YORK

DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS

Official Disney Hotel Postcard

Ref: NY6500

A different postcard for this same hotel, although to be honest I prefer this postcard to the one depicted above. Text on the reverse side tells you that this hotel is themed on Manhattan in the 1920’s

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

DISNEY’S SEQUOIA LODGE

DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS

Official Disney Hotel Postcard

Ref: SQ6500

This one is my favourite of the hotels and I have stayed here three times now. They have a great evening buffet which I love. This is also quite close to the theme parks, the third closest after the two depicted above. This is the hotel I always recommend when people ask me where to stay.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

HOTEL CHEYENNE

DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS

Official Disney Hotel Postcard

Ref: CH6500

I’ve never stayed here but my daughter has. We were looking at doing a couple of nights stay at Disneyland Resort Paris later this year and we are considering staying here for somewhere new and different, and I am currently into the wild west history and am reading a book all about different aspects of the American wild west, so it would be amusing to stay here.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

03/01/2020

NATIONAL POSTCARD WEEK

MAY 6^TH – 12^TH 1990

Design by

ANN RUSNAK

Published by

LEE BROWN

When I post a Rick Geary postcard to the webpage, I always feel like I should follow it up with an Ann Rusnak design, probably because I collected the cards of these two artists in tandem for many years before the sad death of Ann.

This design is again a favourite of mine and was one of the handful of cards I took up to the Picture Postcard Centenary show in London, in 1994, where I met Ann and she kindly signed cards in my collection for me.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This copy was originally signed by the publisher Lee Brown who signed her cards ‘CARDially yours’. As mentioned above, I also had my copy signed by Ann Rusnak in 1994. Having both signatures does make this card a little more special. When I first bought this card, it was 60p, but it is worth a lot more now.

03/01/2020

TOM HAS REACHED TWO

MILESTONES!

30 YEAR EMPLOYEE – WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

25^TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Design by

RICK GEARY

1995

Published by

KATHY & TOM HANKINS (1995)

Members of the Wichita Postcard club, which I suspect Tom was/is a member of, have always had a strong relationship with the artist Rick Geary who has produced the club’s official cards and a range of designs for individuals in the club. There is no indication of how many copies of this card were printed but considering previous similar styled Geary issues I would not be surprised to find out that there were not that many.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Signed bottom left corner by Tom

02/01/2020

FRONT VIEW

TANK DESTROYER AND CREW

CAMP HOOD, TEXAS

Published by

BARTON NEWS AGENCY, TEMPLE, TEXAS

Natural Color Post Card made in U.S.A.

BY

E. C. KROPP CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS.-(FAY)

Ref: 23675N

This is a World War II American postcard issue which I picked up whilst I was in America in late November. I do like military themed postcards when they have been used by military personnel, as this one has been. I have mentioned before that soldiers during time of war are entitled to free postage. I have displayed items from WW1 on the webpage before, but this one is from WW2 from some one based at Camp Hood.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

As free postage was given to serving soldiers mail did not require a postage stamp to be applied. Senders were required to write something like OAS (On Active Service), which was the UK version of what was required, on this postcard the sender has just written ‘FREE’, which seems to have covered this here. Military mail still required cancelling as has happened here where a nice ‘CAMP HOOD, TEXAS’ circle cancel was used dated 3^rd September 1943. This would be classed as a military cancel, and something different for my collection, which I think was why I bought this.

02/01/2020

ALAN RICKMAN 1946 – 2016

By

TREVOR LEIGHTON 1992

GELATIN SILVER PRINT

Published by the

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Just before Christmas I spent a day in London, and I am sure you will be unsurprised to hear I again visited the National Portrait Gallery shop. It never ceases to amaze me how new cards just appear and disappear from their stock. This one has been on sale for a little while, but over the Christmas period, and just before I went to Florida, I watched several of the Harry Potter films and so this card had to come my way.

02/01/2020

“NEVER MIND ME (HIC) OL’ CHAP-

SAVE THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!”

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO PUBLISHERS ENGLAND AND NEW YORK

Ref: SERIES No. 1509

An interesting present from my friends Pat and David Rye and an unusual addition to my Police themed collection. This is a great comic card which makes reference to the, considered honourable, approach of rescuing women and children first in any disaster, something made even more famous a few years after this card with the sinking of the titanic.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This card was posted from Aldershot, I suspect the military camp or just outside, to an Officers Mess in Yorks. The cancel is dated 14^th June 1910. The message seems to indicate that the sender was enjoying some time cycling around the area.

01/01/2020

ANOTHER YEAR

OF HAPPY DAYS

BE YOURS

Published by

MAX ETTLINGER & CO., LTD, E.C. & NEW YORK

Ref: Series 4991

THE ROYAL SERIES

I suppose this one could technically be used for both a New Years and a Birthday greetings postcard, although judging from the handwritten date – Feb 9^th 1909 – this one was used as a birthday greetings postcard.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

01/01/2020

GOOD WISHES

One more affectionate greeting

To swell the chorus

Of

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF

THE DAY

From

……Grace

Published by

THE RAYMALETTE SERIES

I suspect this was enclosed within an envelope because there is no additional text on the reverse side to indicate who Grace was wishing happy birthday to. It’s a simple design, but it does what it was designed to do.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

01/01/2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TODAY IS THE WEBSITES BIRTHDAY

The very first posting to the webpage occurred on the 1^st January 2016, so we understandably count this as the start of the webpages history and as a result we celebrate its birthday on the 1^st January each year. It always amazes me how the webpage keeps going and that people continue to visit and enjoy it.

LOVING BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

Published by the

SALVATION ARMY

This is a postcard used by the Salvation Army as a birthday card for young members. It has a pre-printed reverse side with sections to be completed for each Salvation Army Hall so that cards can be individually adapted for each recipient.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This postcard message (mostly printed) is dated 2^nd June 1914. The card was given out by the Salvation Army Hall at Dewsbury.

There is the signature of someone called Edith Smith, from the Blackpool Citadel Salvation centre, which is dated 3^rd Oct 1929. So, this seems to indicate the Edith Smith was someone important within the Salvation world, someone so important that she was sought out to sign this, and the card depicted below, in 1929. I have been trying to find out any details about this Edith Smith, but so far nothing on the internet. I am also too far away from Blackpool to make any enquiries locally. But, if I am ever up that way, I may visit the Citadel and see what I can find out, but if you know any details then please do email me (email details at the bottom of this page)

LOVING BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

Published by the

SALVATION ARMY

A similar postcard but with a different photograph and poem at the bottom, otherwise the rest of the design is the same. The card is designed for the same use as the one above.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This one is dated 3^rd June 1915 and is again from the Dewsbury branch of the Salvation Army. This has also again been signed by Edith Smith, on the same date and I assume the same occasion. The fact that she was asked to sign two postcards just makes me think that I should be able to find out some details about her eventually.

31/12/2019

NEW YEAR’S GREETING

‘May all your

Wishes come true

And good luck

Follow you’

Made in the U.S.A

Ref: C321

This postcard was a recent acquisition during my holiday in America from an antiques fair I attended. I have kept it back for picturing today, which seemed a logical thing to do. So, this is an early American ‘New Year’s Greeting’ postcard  

Its New Year’s Eve and we are close to entering a new decade. In just a couple of hours I will be driving to London as we have tickets to see the London New Years Eve fireworks show, something I have wanted to see for a number of years now. I am really looking forward to this as a am a big fan of fireworks. So, at midnight we will be at the side of the Thames and some way away from my laptop so may I take this early opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year.   

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

30/12/2019

GSM PRIVAT

EGEN

TELIA MOBITEL

Novelty Pull-out Postcard

Published by

STOCKHOLMS KORT GUIDE

This is an advert postcard for a mobile phone company which was issued in Sweden, although this does not explain why the London Tower Bridge is depicted here. The advert is not fully explained until you pull on the tab at the bottom marked ‘DRAG’, because then the picture changes… see below

This is the same postcard as above, but with the tab pulled down revealing another image, a woman with a mobile phone, a very large woman! Also, I notice she is dressed in a very Christmassy red costume, and I had not meant to post another one until December next year, but there you go…

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

30/12/2019

RECHERCHE TOUTES CARTES POSTALES

DE POMPIERS – MODERNES OU ANCIENNES

‘Search all Postcards

Firefighters – Modern or Old’

By

RICK GEARY

Published by

PATRICE CARRAT

1990

Limited numbered edition of 300

Rick Geary is such a popular postcard artist that collectors and dealers around the world have commissioned postcard designs from him. This one is from a French collector, but I am not sure what his name correctly is as on the front its Patrice Carrat, but on the reverse side it’s shown as Carrat Patrice.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

A nicely printed and typically French, in some way, reverse layout. This ‘particular’ copy is number 198. With this being such a low print run these postcards can be quite expensive for modern issues, but I think £2.50, what I paid, is not a bad price for what is a fascinating modern postcard design.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE TWO POSTCARDS

Only one of the two cards have the limited-edition printing details on it, and the sets individually allocated release number, with this set being No. 169